Two drivers sentenced in fatal crashes

SAN DIEGO COURTS  Two drivers accused in separate incidents of killing pedestrians while under the influence of alcohol or drugs were sentenced yesterday to prison terms.

Alan Lester Mabrey, 46, was ordered to serve 20 years to life for drinking and then driving a pickup into Emily Cathleen Dowdy, 24. Mabrey was convicted of second-degree murder and other charges in the Pacific Beach incident.

In a separate case, Carl William David, 36, was sentenced to six years in prison for driving onto a sidewalk in Sabre Springs on Oct. 14, striking and killing Sandra Kay Kennedy, 63, who was taking her morning walk.

Prosecutors said David was high on methamphetamine at the time.

After hearing statements from supporters on both sides of the case, San Diego Superior Court Judge Kathleen Lewis sentenced David to the middle term allowed by law. He could have been sent to prison for up to 10 years.

Mabrey had racked up six DUI convictions in Texas and Colorado before the Feb. 7 crash in Pacific Beach. For that reason, and the fact that he initially left the crash site, he was sentenced to the maximum prison term.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Charles Rogers said he was skeptical about whether Mabrey could be rehabilitated, given his “long-standing inability and failure to deal with his alcohol issues.”

“That is not to say he can’t find redemption,” Rogers said.

Before ordering the sentence, Rogers listened to testimony from Dowdy’s mother, who lives in Orlando, Fla., one of several family members and friends who attended the hearing. Dowdy’s mother showed the judge a folder filled with photos of her daughter, which she said only hinted at the magnitude of the family’s loss.

“I wish you had known Emily,” Ellie Dowdy said. “I wish she’d had the chance to make your coffee at the neighborhood Starbucks where she worked. I wish you had been the recipient of her smile. Then maybe you would understand a little how hard her death has been on all of us … .”

Emily Dowdy was struck as she crossed Mission Boulevard at Reed Avenue in Pacific Beach. She died at a hospital the next day.

Mabrey apologized in court to Dowdy’s family and friends, tearfully adding that he would change places with the young woman if he could.

“It was an accident. It wasn’t a murder, I promise you,” said Mabrey, who was found guilty of the murder charge, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and felony hit-and-run causing death.

“I didn’t even see her,” he said.

The judge explained that Mabrey was found guilty under a theory of “implied malice murder,” meaning that he knew the behavior was dangerous and did it anyway.

Mabrey, who had been in San Diego only a few days, got behind the wheel of a friend’s Dodge Ram pickup after sharing two pitchers of beer and drinking from a 12-pack of beer he bought earlier, according to the evidence at trial.

After hitting Dowdy with the truck, Mabrey walked away from the crash and returned about an hour later. During his absence, he ate at a nearby Burger King.